Gone are the days where students are expected to sit and listen to a teacher drone on about a topic and show their knowledge by answering exam questions or by completing an overly structured assessment. Our schooling is now heading in the direction of being student orientated. It is now the students themselves who can choose the direction of their education. In some subjects they now have the opportunity to choose their own form of assessment medium. Possibilities can range from like this assessment a blog, through to a video or power point presentation. Our students are now also more involved in the research and fact finding in their own education. This is student orientated learning rather than the classical teacher orientated learning where the teacher would be the source of all knowledge and students would have no say in the form their assessment would take.
The usage of this technology as a form of assessment and just as part of everyday classes can be seen as being part of Kearsley and Shneiderman’s learning engagement theory. “The fundamental idea underlying engagement theory is that student’s must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks,” (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999). Which means, that if students work in small groups on a project, (film, power point, etc.) which has a relationship with a real life issue or topic, your students are more likely to be interested and involved in the task as it is more motivating for students if the task is meaningful to them, (Kearsley and Shneiderman, 1999). I believe that a technology rich environment, especially in a class with a knowledgeable teacher, can have a huge impact on the way students perceive their schooling. This course so far has changed some of my own perceptions on the usage of technologies within a classroom. It has made me think of a number of uses for each piece of technology addressed, some of which are posted as the previous blog entries.
This blog has addressed classroom uses for blogs, interactive white boards, videos including YouTube and animations, online photo storage and manipulation, Google Earth and maps, wiki’s and Wikipedia, digital storytelling, copyright free music, vokis, power points and how to upload them for viewing online. This blog has also addressed equity in technology use, internet security and digital immigrants. Part of this synopsis calls for me to indicate which of these technologies I would use in my classroom.
The first tool which jumps to mind is blogs. I intend to be a prep teacher so I can see many possibilities for blog usage with this age group. The main one I can see is as communication with parents. It would be an up to date notice board as well as a way of showcasing the students work. Privacy of the blog would have to be considered as it may have photos of minors on it; a system would have to be set up where parents are added as members of the blog, this would protect the safety of the children involved. Viewing the blog at home may assist parents with guiding their children’s homework tasks, a fuller explanation may be posted on the blog with examples. I think that including parents in the homework process may make the necessary tasks less mundane. With parent assistance children may also be able to post their homework responses to the blog saving the heartache of losing treasured photos or similar items at school. These can be viewed in the class on an interactive whiteboard. While in the classroom the students can contribute to the blog by taking turns reflecting on their day or as a class reflect on special occasions the group experiences, e.g. Excursions or visits by experts in any field to the school environment.
As mentioned above, I already have a use for an interactive white board in my class. Utilising an interactive white board in conjunction with a blog and homework would, I think give a student a sense of independence and personal success when they can use this classroom tool to show their peers something of their own creation. During my current work experience I have seen a prep class’s uses of an interactive white board. During discussions of Australia we were shown a map using Google Earth and pictures of native Australian animals in their natural habitat. Utilising the whiteboard in this way means that students did not need to crowd around a book or computer screen, the whole class can see the resources at once and then participate in the discussion. I would definitely use the whiteboard for similar uses, as a way of all children having access to vital information when it is needed. The interactive whiteboard has never ending possibilities and using it in conjunction with the huge amount of online resources available will also give me ideas of how to get a concept across to my students when my imagination lets me down.
There are no limits on the possibilities for the creation of a wiki, there are wikis addressing every topic and Wikipedia fills in any gaps left behind. The third tool which I am most likely to utilise is the wiki. Meryl and I have discussed the possibilities of using a wiki for the purpose of profiling students with their learning styles. I added that asking students in your class to create a profile of interests, hobbies, etc, before the beginning of the year. For prep kids this can be a vital to help children to settle in and you may be able to guide a single child to a group of children with similar interests. A fantastic aspect of a wiki is that you are able to return and alter any aspect of the wiki at a later stage. Similar things need to be considered with wikis as blogs, such as privacy and security settings. Also a wiki may be utilised in a similar way as I have described for a blog with notices and homework tasks available for parents to access at home.
Home internet and computer access needs to be addressed here as well. Equity for all children needs to be considered, do all of my students have access to a computer at home? Do all of my students have supervised access to the internet? Can your digitalised homework be made into a hard copy for students who do not have these resources at home? Will any students be disadvantaged by this? The equity of all children needs to be a thought of mine whenever I am considering requesting the use of technology outside of the classroom.
When considering technology usage in my classroom I will be open to the discovery of materials which will engage my students with increasing effectiveness. Over the creation of my blog I have had to consider the uses of a variety of different technologies and how best to apply them to a classroom situation. I now feel much better prepared and ready to face technology challenges within my classroom. Technology within the classroom is part of the future of our schools, as a teacher graduating in 2012 I hope that I can be a tech savvy teacher who can teach her students in an engaging way, utilising technology in appropriate ways throughout all aspects of my teaching and my career.
Please refer to the left of the page for:
- A complete reference list of blogs which I have commented on as part of this assignment, including their post dates and subjects
- A complete reference list for all of my blog postings including the ones used for this synopsis
